Drug-access delays 'a threat to future pharma investment'

The Irish Government has been warned the "broken system" for new drugs is damaging Ireland's prospects for attracting new investment and jobs for the country's pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, reported Independent.ie.

According to Aidan Lynch, president of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, pharmaceutical executives have unsuccessfully sought meetings with government officials to try and sort out a dispute over the pricing of new high-tech medicines.

He claims that patients are waiting up to two-and-a-half years for some medicines to be approved by health authorities, with Ireland falling from first in Europe for drug access to 15th in the last six years.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said "we are not a wealthy country that can simply accept exorbitant asking prices for drugs just so that we can climb some league table in terms of speed of reimbursement compared to other countries."

However, Lynch, who has led GlaxoSmithKline's Irish operation since 2012, said the issue was causing frustration at the global headquarters of the major drug manufacturers, including at his own company.

"The attitude across all of the headquarters would be one of frustration," he added, "not just frustration around the speed of access, but also the lack of transparency around what is wrong in the system."

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